Thomas Rozec and Quentin Bresson traveled the American roads in search of solutions to climate change. “Adapt or what” is a special issue of Program B, produced by Binge Audio. They did it in partnership with WeDemain and the US Embassy in France.
The investigation takes place in six episodes. From Silicon Valley to the desert plains of Arizona, from Los Angeles to Washington, the two men – one journalist, the other technical director – have met many actors and actresses in the fight against climate change. This podcast asks a question: can we really adapt to global warming? Interview.
Air Zen Radio. In the title of your series, “to adapt or what”, there is already a form of hope, right?
Thomas Rozec. Yes, there is an American idiom that is “adapt or die”. We wanted to turn it in a little more positive way without falling into something naive. Either way, we’re up against the wall. So, once we’re there, what do we do?
What was your background, what were the key stages of this trip to the United States?
Quentin Bresson. We started by going to San Francisco, where we met the mayor of a neighboring town, Sausalito, for which there is a big issue around the rising waters. This city is a real laboratory for Silicon Valley. We met people from the Pacific Forest Trust there. Then we went to Yosemite, the national park which has partly burned following the various heat episodes. Then, for the podcast, we went to Los Angeles to talk about the imagination around global warming. Then to Phoenix and Taos, faced with extreme heat. We therefore asked ourselves the question: how do cities adapt?
Thomas Rozec. We then went to Washington to talk about social justice, because it’s a big issue in the United States. The last leg of the trip was in Buffalo, New York. We talked about cities that are subject, unlike what Phoenix knows, that is to say, to cold spells. Buffalo also presents itself today as a possible refuge for the inhabitants of the surrounding areas because it has managed to adapt well.
The United States is the second biggest polluter in the world, behind China. You’d think they’re lagging behind…
Thomas Rozec. What is certain is that they took time to take an interest in these subjects. But this country has for it – by its gigantism and its habit of innovation – to have this kind of capacity to mobilize enormous numbers of people, means and energy. What came up a lot in the conversations we had with our interlocutors was the impact of the Biden administration. In 2022, it voted a set of laws (Inflation Reduction Act). And that includes the largest budget envelope ever allocated to the transition. To see if this will be followed by effects.
Has Silicon Valley, for example, decided that climate change is trending?
Thomas Rozec. Indeed, we are coming there. For years, Green Tech was seen as something that cost more money than it was going to bring in. However, today the situation has changed. To put it very crudely: today, there is money to be made. This may seem trivial, but it is a sufficient engine for Silicon Valley.
After filming “Adapt or what”, how do you feel about our power to act on climate change?
Quentin Bresson. Capitalism finds a way ! We may not be going towards the end of capitalism, but I think that we will perhaps find in capitalism solutions to look a little better. Anyway, that’s the thought there. It is a country that is so vast that it is difficult to address all the problems at once. This is managed very much at the local level and, in this, it can inspire us.
Thomas Rozec. Yes, it was the community aspect that struck me. Top-down solutions cannot be expected only. In the United States, they operate very much on a municipal scale. And, by giving the means to the smallest scales, we get there more easily. It is one of the hopes that I draw from this series in any case.
